as presented by President Lee Snyder, Tuesday, January 25, 2005
I. Introduction
I found myself going back to the reading I had been doing. I was thinking of Robert Frost’s statement, “What we do in college is to get over our little mindedness.” I was intrigued by political science professor Michael Budde’s encouragement to engage in what he calls “thought experiments”—i.e. focusing attention on “what doesn’t exist.”
I have been reading the observations of journalist David Brooks about how students socialize differently than they used to. Brooks sketches the scene—a group of young people at a restaurant, with one on a cell phone for twenty minutes. Ah, the cell phone. One of the students tells me how handy the cell phone is to find her friend down the hall when she’s not in her room, though she mostly uses her cell phone to call her boyfriend. One of the things that has changed this year—dramatically changed, in my observations—is that we have fully embraced cell phones—every place one goes—in the produce aisle down at the Community Market, in the mall, walking across campus, in Marbeck or Centennial, cell phones are almost as common as back packs. I’m told that soon we won’t need telephones in the residence halls—we may be at that point already—students bring their cell phones.
We want instant access; and we are willing it seems to become instantly accessible to others— any time, any place. The internet offers another whole scenario—connection of a different sort. Some worry that technology depersonalizes communication, but it also has the capacity to extend relationships.
Let me tell you about an experience over the holidays—about contact with a Sengalese poet, Baba Dioum. The other character in this rather astonishing story is Paul Weaver, reference librarian here at Bluffton. I ran across a quotation in my reading and wanted to use it in this address. These are the lines, by Baba Dioum:
In the end we will conserve only what we love.
We love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught.
I wanted to know the original source of these words—because I was reading a quote of a quote of a quote. Being a good English major, I wanted the original citation. I wished to see for myself the context of Mr. Dioum’s lines. So I enlisted Paul Weaver’s help. Sure enough, within a few days, Mr. Weaver had found on the Web a reference to this quotation. Paul confirmed that Mr. Dioum was a Senegalese scholar and statesman. And we learned from a footnote to an article on the UNESCO website that this quote was from a speech made in New Delhi of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
But here’s where the story gets interesting. Being a skilled reference librarian, Paul Weaver decided to pursue this a little further. We were still dealing with a footnote reference. Paul Weaver then called a Ms. Marie Thompson at the International Fertilizer Development Center on whose board Baba Dioum served. Marie Thompson, from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, got word to Mr. Baba Dioum that we were inquiring about his quote and, guess what—this international figure e-mailed Paul Weaver directly. “Thank you for your interest regarding my quote . .. [which was in] a paper presented in 1968 at the General Assembly of [the] International Union for [the] Conservation of Nature held in New Delhi.” Mr. Dioum attached a little more description of himself and the context for the quotation—an attachment which seems to be extracted from some resource at the Seattle Public Library.
So we have been around the world and back—Bluffton, Alabama, Senegal, New Delhi, Seattle and back to Bluffton. While we often think of the Internet as impersonal, here is a counter example. And I am still thinking about Baba Dioum’s profound statement:
In the end we will conserve only what we love.
We love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught.
I have chosen these words as the theme of my remarks this morning because they capture something of the mystery and responsibility of teaching and learning to which we aspire as an academic community—a community that we love.
II. Where we’ve been.
Where have we been as we survey the past year? Right after New Years, a gentleman asked to speak with me. He was thinking of a Bluffton student who had lost a parent a few months before—this parent at a fairly young age died of cancer. This gentleman told me more about this family and wondered how he could go about making a contribution to the student’s educational fund because he had observed the generosity of this family at his own wife’s recent death. I was reminded, as I am so often, that at the heart of the Bluffton University enterprise are relationships. It is those relationships, fostered by provocative faculty and supportive staff, by a residential learning community, that offer the best hope for calling out future leaders who are committed, courageous and compassionate.
In graduation ceremonies this past May, we recognized 270 graduates. Those graduates walked off that platform on a warm May day and moved into a new stage in their lives; some were beginning a term of service; others taking positions in journalism, teacher education, social work, graphic arts, accounting; some were planning to go on for further study. Those 270 graduates included persons from Argentina, Burkina-Faso, Eritrea, Korea, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Viet Nam and Zambia have had an impact on us while they studied here, and they take with them a piece of Bluffton as they go out with what we hope will be appreciation for Bluffton’s values of discovery, community, respect and service—those enduring qualities to which we aspire as hallmarks of a Bluffton education.
Reviewing the year 2004 there are many achievements to be noted.
As a primarily tuition driven institution, Bluffton must continue to work at strengthening the institution’s financial position—increasing endowed scholarships and other endowments to ensure continued strength in the academic program. Through the successful efforts of the Advancement Office, important gains have been made. As of December 31, we have 328 endowed scholarships including twelve new scholarships added the past year.
Meeting enrollment targets, increasing endowment, being successful in the Bluffton Fund (i.e. meeting that gap between what students pay in tuition/fees and what it costs to provide the educational program)—all are components of Bluffton’s strengthened fiscal position that I am pleased to report in reviewing the past year.
I need to acknowledge, in addition, the hard work undertaken last year in program adjustments. This was a difficult process as we worked at both academic and administrative adjustments to arrive at a point where we could achieve a sustainable budget—focusing on our mission and ensuring that we could continue to thrive in academic areas of depth and strength. These adjustments will allow us to address areas where we have been lagging, such as faculty salaries, and will put us in a more favorable position for new education initiatives.
From the general student body perspective, one of the more significant changes this past year was the change in dining services. I want to thank those students last year who were a part of a campus committee who reviewed proposals from several vendors in a process which selected Sodexho to manage dining services. And I want to thank Sodexho for offering new options to students and for the way they have worked at entering into the Bluffton campus culture. As an example, they collaborated with Betsy Phalen, Assistant Director of Marbeck Center, on offering a midnight breakfast during exam week. It was a rousing success. With lots of laughter and good fun, students took a break from studying to enjoy sausage, pancakes, eggs and hash browns in what, we hope, will begin a new tradition.
Students and Faculty.
It is relatively easy to report on numbers and statistics. The more significant measure is whether students and faculty have opportunity to experience what we have called, “embracing spirit, engaging minds.” I have been impressed by the evidence of students this fall participating in civic activities—getting out the vote, informing themselves on election issues and listening to differing points of view. Students have been active in religious life, on other fronts as well—involved with a program of antiracism training; a number of clubs have organized efforts to raise money and collect supplies for MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) for their Asia and Sudan projects.
Students have taken advantage of opportunities beyond campus. The class in Leadership in Religious and Non-profit Organizations prepared a marketing study for Camp Friedenswald, a Mennonite Camp located in Michigan. More than 80 student from across the campus have been involved in a range of service projects related to their coursework—part of the Pathways to Mission and Vocation focus. Experiences include the West Ohio Food Bank, Big Brothers/Big Sisters; working with the disabled at Marimor, with the elderly at Mennonite Memorial Home, with youth offenders at the Worth Center, Read for L.I.F.E., the Lima YMCA, and the Lima-Urban Minority Alchoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program—through such service experiences, relationships are formed and students testify to the impact these contacts have on them as they consider their own vocational directions. One of our students who had been working with children with a variety of disabilities reflected on what she had learned.
“This experience has helped me to realize that I am really lucky. . . lucky that I was born with the ability to live a normal life, to be able to get into college and someday have a good job and . . . family. . . I have also realized that someday my child may be born with a disability, but thanks to the wonderful children I have worked with at CDC [the Children’s Development Center], that may not be such a bad thing. I know that these children are able to achieve great things, maybe not by ‘normal standards,’ but their own small achievements mean the world to their parents and the people who care about them.”
Student athletes have been recognized this year—just two examples: the women’s softball team was named to the all-academic team by the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association—Bluffton was the highest ranked school out of the eight Heartland Conference softball teams for this academic recognition. The volleyball team received a similar honor—national recognition for their academic achievements in addition to their dedication to their sport.
A Bluffton student was selected again this year to participate in the distinguished Kemper Fellows program—students are selected on the basis of a proposed “imagination grant.” Bluffton’s Kemper “fellow” this year spent the summer at a Christian College in Lithuania teaching English.
The Pathways scholars program also has offered both students and faculty opportunities to do research, to test interests and to explore vocational calling through special projects.
Overall, 2004 has been an extraordinary year. I invited the Student Senate President to comment as well. “I think the school as a whole had a good semester,” Jason Moyer reports, noting that students have taken in stride two major changes, the new university status and the changes in food service.
Meeting with the Student Senate at the beginning of the year, I asked them as student leaders to name the top ten things they liked about their college experience. They said:
Students also expressed appreciation for some of the traditions and practices that have been a part of this institution’s history for many years:
So, it is with “humble pride” if that’s possible—maybe I should say “grateful pride” that I offer these examples of both the ordinary and the extraordinary threads that weave themselves through the day to day of what we think of as the “Bluffton experience.”
III. Now we look ahead: just imagine . . . .
Now we look ahead. It is our responsibility not only “to imagine the past and what it means,” as someone has said, but to “imagine the future and what it holds.”[1] As human beings, it is critical that we learn to nurture the imagination. Faculty help students imagine their best selves. We help each other imagine what possibilities lie ahead. We haven’t gone as far as another university which has established an office called the “Next Fifty Years Office,”[2] (though that might be something to think about).
We will conclude the 2000-2005 strategic plan this year and begin a new planning process—the shape to be yet determined. The 2000-2005 Strategic Plan had ten goals: 1. enrollment, 2. academic excellence, 3. resource generation, 4. effectively communicating the value and benefit of a Bluffton education to others; 5. faculty/staff development; 6. implement the Title III technology plan; 7. create a master plan; 8. give attention to campus life encouraging intellectual and spiritual growth; 9. continue to develop an appreciation for diversity; and 10. strengthen church/university relations as well as relations with other constituencies. The new plan may have fewer goals—that remains to be seen—but as with the strategic plan we are just completing, the mission of Bluffton University will remain the focus:
Preparing students for life through a liberal arts foundation and within the context of Bluffton’s Anabaptist faith values.
As we begin to think about new goals for the future, faculty and staff at an upcoming Occasional Friday will begin a discussion of the next strategic plan. The Board of Trustees will be talking about strategic planning when they meet in a few weeks. This is an exciting time at Bluffton—a time of imagining and therefore making possible new things, of dreaming together about how our mission shapes new opportunity.
This coming year we will be undergoing the first site visit for the accreditation of Bluffton’s teacher education program—a challenge which we are ready for and which will further communicate and confirm the quality and reach of a truly outstanding program.
We are well positioned for continued progress as we work at external and internal challenges with which are all too familiar—the realities of Ohio demographics in the next few years (no growth), striving for greater diversity of the student body, being creative about ways we might continue to draw international students in a climate which is anything but inviting to students from abroad; continuing the important work of antiracism; working toward a pool of greater diversity for faculty and staff positions, while continuing in the hiring process the critical emphasis on support for the Anabaptist commitments of this institution.
On a very practical level, there will be the challenge of ongoing funding for technology, of continuing a financial aid program which enables students to attend Bluffton and of keeping tuition affordable at the same time that costs are rising and we seek new dollars for the academic program, for scholarships and for campus facilities. Pre-planning is underway for the next major campaign. This work is being done in the context of institutional priorities growing out of the Master Planning—a new recreation center. Founders has served us well, but is no longer adequate. In 1951 when Founders was built, we had 239 students and no women’s sports. When Burcky gym was added in 1971, Bluffton had 525 students—today we are right at 1000 undergraduates. For recreation and fitness, for campus life as well as for athletics, we look forward to a new facility. Building a recreation center while increasing endowment, meeting Bluffton Fund goals, and providing resources for the academic program will be a major challenge. But we have met major challenges before, and we are doing the groundwork now to determine when that campaign should be launched.
V. Conclusion
Finally, on a personal note, I want to recognize the leadership represented by the President’s Cabinet whose depth of experience and commitment has served this institution well, enabling us to continue to move forward with energy and creativity in the midst of change. As Stan Clemens begins his new role in planning for the next campaign, his outstanding work as Vice President for Advancement must be applauded. Now Hans Houshower takes up responsibilities as the new Vice President of Advancement, continuing the area of grants. Don Schweingruber as he approaches retirement and concludes his leadership of the Student Life division is working closely with Eric Fulcomer, preparing for the transition next summer when Eric’s role as Vice President of Enrollment Management will be expanded to include Student Life. We anticipate the coming of a new Vice President for Academic Affairs in July. Many of you heard Dr. William Trollinger describe his vision for Bluffton’s academic program when he was on campus just before Christmas. He is already working with Sally Weaver Sommer, who has served so well as interim dean. I want to publicly thank Sally for her extraordinary service in the Dean’s Office this year.
This has been a good year and I conclude by saying that I have great faith in the future of Bluffton University. My dream is that Bluffton as a liberal arts institution would maintain its small, intimate character which prizes the Anabaptist faith and which rests on the integrity of faculty and staff; that Bluffton University would be a place where “things happen.” Where teaching remains central, but a place also where students work alongside faculty in their respective academic areas extending the fields of knowledge through research, writing, and practice; a place where preparation for vocation is honored; where heart and mind and soul are nurtured.
We will continue to ask, “How does Bluffton make a difference in the lives of students?” And we will continue to imagine that vision of Bluffton’s first president of expecting ‘great things.’
In aspiration, in impact, as a shaping influence, I believe that Chuck Neufeld, our Spiritual Emphasis speaker early last semester perhaps best summed it up. He described Bluffton and institutions like Bluffton as “holy places.” This is a place of change and changed lives. It is a setting where we encourage exploration and questions, where we pray that each person—student, faculty and staff—may come more fully to a realization of how each is called to be part of something larger than ourselves.
In the end (as Baba Dioum observes)
We will conserve only
What we love
We will love only what we understand
And we will understand only what we have been taught. [3]
It is our privilege as an academic community to be a part of this endeavor—to blend “intellect and scholarship with the Truth that sets us free,” to borrow the words of the new Bluffton song. It is here that we are taught to understand and to love that which is worthy of the dreams and visions we have for Bluffton University.
Thank you.
[1] Robert A. Scott, President of Adelphi University, in an address delivered to his institution, September 2004.
[2] University of Alaska, noted in a letter of January 14, 2005, announcing the installation of a new chancellor.
[3] Baba Dioum, general co-ordinator of the Conference of Ministers of West and Central Africa, in a speech in New Delhi in 1968. Quoted in the on-line Museum International editorial (no. 206) by Marcia Lord, January 1, 1970.
